


Pawprints and Kunai

by WizardsGirl



Series: My Many Naruto OC's [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Dog-Breeder OC, No Plot/Plotless, Original Character-centric, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader-Interactive, Second Shinobi War, Tags May Change, That's the only thing that's definite, Warnings May Change, You Choose The Plot, You Decide The Storyline, You Pick The Relationships, casual fic, interactive story, just for fun, reincarnation insert, world-building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25625743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardsGirl/pseuds/WizardsGirl
Summary: Murano Sayuri was a simple farmer’s daughter, with strange dreams of a time and place far different than where she was now, and aspirations of one-day being a dog breeder. With these dreams and a sharp mind, Sayuri has her gaze locked firmly on her future, no matter which way her path leads her.Interactive Story! YOU CHOOSE THE PATH! Help build Sayuri’s life, from the ground up!
Relationships: To Be Decided
Series: My Many Naruto OC's [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/810240
Comments: 24
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Just a casual, slightly-reader-interactive fic for you guys. I’m sorry I haven’t been posting a lot (or at all) for a while, but I’ve been recovering from a stroke. Thankfully, it was just a stroke brought on by a Complex Migraine, which stressed and pinched nerves in my brain, whereas a regular stroke is brought on by a blood clot, so while I have some issues and weakness with my left side, and near-full paralysis the first two weeks, I AM recovering with mild to non-existent permanent damage (I now get extreme vertigo if I move backwards too quick, and the left side of my torso still doesn’t have much feeling at all, but it WAS worse so w/e)
> 
> Anyways, I decided while I slowly work on a few different stories and such, I’d work on this one as just a casual, Reader-Interactive Story.
> 
> WHAT THIS MEANS:
> 
> YOU guys get to decide on what happens. At the end of each Chapter there will be a Question for you guys. It can be anything from What’s the MC’s Sexuality, to Should MC go LEFT or RIGHT? This is, as I’ve stated, a Casual Fic. I am going into this with NO PLOT, just some mild wish fulfillment in the Base idea of the story and the rest is up to y’all. Feel Free To Offer Suggestions For Future Questions!
> 
> And Have Fun!

** Pawprints and Kunai **

_**Summary:** _

_Murano Sayuri was a simple farmer’s daughter, with strange dreams of a time and place far different than where she was now, and aspirations of one-day being a dog breeder. With these dreams and a sharp mind, Sayuri has her gaze locked firmly on her future, no matter which way her path leads her._

_**Interactive Story!** _

_YOU CHOOSE THE PATH! Help build Sayuri’s life, from the ground up!_

** Let’s Begin! **

****

Once upon a time, Sayuri had gone by a different name. She couldn’t remember what it was, only that it had been drastically different from the one she had now. In that time Before, she had lived on a farm as well, but the one from Before had Drastically outstretched the small plot her family owned now. There had been horses and cows and chickens, a large pond filled with fat, healthy fish, and long stretches of unused fields between the smaller fields of corn and soy. Before had been in a time and place where such a thing was commonplace, nothing like the desperate, grasping hold they dealt with now, where her, her Tousan, Kaasan, and her brothers all worked and toiled day-in and day-out on their small plot of vegetables, which they would sell at the tiny town miles away for barely enough money to afford the next batch of seeds.

Sometimes, Sayuri resented these memories she had of Before. Of a time where she didn’t have to go days without food just to have enough to even survive. Where being a girl wasn’t seen as only an opportunity for her family to get good payment from a prospective spouse in a dowry. A time where she was free to pursue her chosen career of being a dog breeder, secure in the knowledge that her next meal and all her taxes were already guaranteed to be paid by her last litter…

But.

Without those dreams of Before, she never would have known the things she does. Never would have been able to figure out the things she wasn’t taught by her family, either due to her gender or their own ignorance. Counting, math in general, how to sew and knit and crochet. How to skin and dress an animal, start a fire, fish with her hands, and make traps. It was thanks to these skills that her family had survived a lean harvest more than once, although she kept the more “learned” knowledge hidden. Another thing different than the Before, after all, was that her Tousan would not hesitate to beat her bloody if she stepped out of line and was disobedient.

It was why she was so very, very cautious in her endeavors to escape her family. Why she had spent years, now, slowly sneaking coins away from their stall at the market, carefully slipping away at times to sell a small fur or too, or take coin to sew up someone’s clothes. Even then, with the careful, cautious way she worked, the youngest of her older brothers, Isao, had caught on The only reason he hadn’t said anything, however, was because he wanted the same thing, but knew he was far more likely to succeed. So, when they were sent into town together, he said nothing about the clothes she sewed or the times she disappeared only to reappear with a hidden pouch, and she said nothing about the various merchants and caravans he chatted up in the hopes of an apprenticeship or just a one-way ticket out.

Tousan would beat the both of them if he found out, would see it as an act of defiance, and her other brothers, Hisao and Tatsuo, would agree with him. Kaasan wouldn’t even blink, wouldn’t care, heavy as she was with yet another child and near-ill with it. No, unspoken as it was, Isao was her only ally in her wish to leave.

But now, now the time had come. Tousan and Hisao had taken Kaasan to town, the closest place with anything even resembling a doctor. Tatsuo was asleep, dead to the world as he usually was when allowed, and Isao was on the night-watch to keep pests from the field. She had enough coin to get her far enough away that it would be too expensive to launch any kind of search, and had spent the day leaving subtle hints that she was having severe menstrual pain (Complaints were a beat-able offence. One didn’t complain of anything, for if you had time and breath to complain, you were not in any way incapable of not working.). Tatsuo had the usual response to the idea of any female having their period, which was to blanch and politely ignore it while also avoiding her like the plague. Isao had just eyed her quietly, before pointedly doing the same, and, by lunch, had managed to talk Tatsuo into letting her rest from the rest of the days chores, which was why he had night duty.

So, well-rested, with all of her stockpiled coins and only one spare shirt and a few squirreled away carrots and the last of her little pelts to her name, Sayuri slipped out her window into the pitch-dark of the new moon, and walked away from what had been her whole world, this life. She may have left a note, but none of them could read or write beyond their names, and even that she had only learned through watching her Tousan, as women were not meant to be Learned, after all.

None of that mattered now, however. With the stars above her, her home behind her, and her memories of Before giving her aide, Sayuri’s future was already far brighter than before. She walked into the darkness with her head held high and her heart filled with a grim, terrified sort of hope, and prayed to whatever Kami was merciful, that she would find her place in this world.

**_End Chapter._ **

**Reviewer Question!**

_What Naruto Time Period is Sayuri in? Warring Clans Period? One of the First Three Shinobi Wars? Naruto Timeline? You decide!_

(I know nothing about the Boruto Timeline and don’t stand by it, just FYI, so, y’know, that’s not really an option, sorry guys.)


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like Sayuri is living during the Second Great Shinobi War! Neat! This is going to be a fun adventure in World-Building, I see, considering that no one really knows anything about this time period except that its supposed to be similarly based on IRL World War II, takes place between Iwa, Konoha, Suna, and Hanzo (Notably NOT Ame despite Hanzo being its leader at the time), this is also when Sasori’s parents are killed, the Sannin get their Name, and at the end of it, Sakumo fails that one Mission.
> 
> So, let’s get writing!

** Pawprints and Kunai **

**_Summary:_ **

_Murano Sayuri was a simple farmer’s daughter, with strange dreams of a time and place far different than where she was now, and aspirations of one-day being a dog breeder. With these dreams and a sharp mind, Sayuri has her gaze locked firmly on her future, no matter which way her path leads her._

**_Interactive Story!_ **

_YOU CHOOSE THE PATH! Help build Sayuri’s life, from the ground up!_

Sayuri was grateful for the rain. She always had been, in this life, at least. In the time Before, she remembered feeling cooped up or frustrated when it rained, unable—Or, more correctly, _unwilling_ —to go outside during the spring and fall storms. But now, the rain symbolized new life, fresh and _clean_ drinking water that she didn’t have to pump or gather from the well, and, most importantly, a cover for her escape. The Rainy Season was strong this year, which promised good crops for her family, but also prevented her from being easily seen in her stolen men’s clothes. The tunic and trousers she wore were both dark, muddy brown, threadbare in places and hems rough and patchy. Her black hair, cut boyishly short the first day she’d left, was plastered to her head in thick clumps of cowlicks that fell repeatedly into her eyes as she moved quietly.

The rain was so hard it made the world around her look like something out of Before’s horror movies. Sayuri had never seen a movie in this life, couldn’t even hope to afford one, but the Before had made them so cheaply available that she wasn’t particularly wanting of the experience. Especially as Before had been fond of horror and suspense, and Sayuri wasn’t particularly fond of being frightened.

Still, the gray-brown-green-blur of the world around her, outlined in flashes of rain-and-moonlight-made silver, had a sort of haunting beauty to it…

But it was a dangerous beauty.

Distantly, through rumor and gossip in the town, she had heard of the War, the Second if its kind to hit the Elemental Nations, but her tiny farm and equally small village hadn’t been either important enough or in the right sort of location to _feel_ the ramifications. This changed, she noticed, as days passed and she walked steadily farther from the safety of her tiny, familiar lands. She’d stumbled upon several scenes of the aftermath of Shinobi battles. Burning craters or blackened earth, twisted and shattered trees, the strange-shaped weapons that they always had. No bodies thus far, she was relieved to admit, but more than one fresh grave, obviously dug by her fellow Civilians.

“Shinobi don’t get Buried” wasn’t just a saying, after all.

This rain hid her from danger, and hid danger from her. Sayuri wasn’t sure which way she was supposed to see it, as something hopeful or ominous, so she dismissed it out of her mind beyond her usual caution. Years of malnutrition, the rain, her borrowed clothes, and her mess of cut hair would protect her from the more prevalent risks of bandits. Her lack of Chakra would protect her from the most prevalent threats of Shinobi. And the rain would protect her from the worse of the natural threats aside from illness.

So, yes, she was grateful for the rain.

**~*~*~*~*~*~**

Sayuri had yet to see any other people in the three weeks since her escape. The rain had come and gone with extreme prejudice, leaving her legs soaked up to mid-thigh with mud, leaving her unpleasantly chafed where half-wet clothes and skin rubbed, and her muscles aching from the weight of wet cloth and her soaked pack. She’d been lucky enough to find a clearing with a large fallen tree that had been cut into and half hollowed-out for the obvious purpose of temporary rest-stop.

She had made a tiny fire and was cooking the trio of wild turnips she’d dug up the day before, just as the rain started hammering the wood over her head. She was tired, cold, hungry, and boredly watching her small feast cook, so she felt she could be excused for the fact it took her several moments and a clearing of a throat to notice she wasn’t alone.

Choking on her own spit, Sayuri’s head jerked up to stare, wide-eyed, at the Shinobi crouched in the doorway of her little haven, his hands held up to show he was unarmed and a mild smile on his face. 

“Mind if I join you?” He asked, tilting his head in an attempt to look harmless and charming, even as thunder rumbled ominously above them. Sayuri could only stare at him, dumbfounded, as her tiny fire crackled and the rain picked up.

She really didn’t handle being scared very well.

**_End Chapter._ **

**Reviewer Question!**

_What Village is the Mysterious Shinobi from?_


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, our Mystery Shinobi is from Konoha! I go by Majority Vote with these questions, btw, which is why it usually takes a while for me to put the next chapter out. I usually want at least 5 votes all together before picking the one with the most votes. Although I was pleased to see Yugakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure suggested! Hope you guys are having fun!  
> Now, let’s get writing!

** Pawprints and Kunai **

**_Summary:_ **

_Murano Sayuri was a simple farmer’s daughter, with strange dreams of a time and place far different than where she was now, and aspirations of one-day being a dog breeder. With these dreams and a sharp mind, Sayuri has her gaze locked firmly on her future, no matter which way her path leads her._

**_Interactive Story!_ **

_YOU CHOOSE THE PATH! Help build Sayuri’s life, from the ground up!_

Sayuri eyed the Shinobi warily as he joined her in her shelter, keeping deliberately to the other side of their now-shared fire. He had kept up the harmless act as he leaned against the side of the hollowed tree. He had silver-colored hair, something she had never seen before, and laughter lines around his gray eyes. The stylized leaf on his headband named his home as Konoha, which only made him _slightly_ less dangerous to her, at the moment. Konoha, after all, was less likely to kill civilians outside of Paid Missions or Orders. Of the Hidden Villages, even in the tiny, rural village she had known, Konoha was considered the Nice Village. They still murdered and fought and kidnapped if the money was right or the order was given, but, unlike others, you could trust a Konoha Shinobi not to rape anyone.

At least, those were the rumors, and she wasn’t about to put stock in _just_ rumors and second-hand gossip. And, unlike regular bandits, she knew a haircut and men’s clothes wouldn’t hide her gender for any length of time. She could only hope that the mud and rain covered her smell if this Shinobi was one of those she’d heard could smell like a dog. He didn’t have the red triangles like the Inuzuka were supposed to, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t smell like one. Who knew what Shinobi learned beyond weapons and their techniques?

Still, he was content to sit there and munch on his weird, unappetizing looking ration bars, and left her to her turnips. They ate their respective dinners in silence, the Shinobi staring out into the heavy rain with an easy-going expression as Sayuri constantly switched between watching him and watching the rain warily. Shinobi were pack creatures, usually, she knew. Unless they had gotten enough power and prestige that being alone on a mission was allowed, even in War Time.

“Can I ask what you’re doing out and about on your own?” The Shinobi asked easily, breaking the silence and making Sayuri flinch slightly in surprise. “No pressure, of course!” He chuckled, reaching up and tugging his ponytail with a sheepish smile. “Just making conversation, y’know?” Sayuri eyed him warily, before glancing away.

“Travelling,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the shelter wall, struggling not to sound defensive and most likely failing. “Just like anyone else around here.”

“Ah, right,” the Shinobi chuckled easily. “Walked right into that one, I suppose. Going anywhere special?” Sayuri shrugged, frowning tightly.

“Away from where I was, and far, if I’m lucky,” she muttered grimly.

“Oh?” The Shinobi asked; Sayuri didn’t respond, _pointedly_ didn’t respond. She may be a Civilian, but she had clear thoughts from Before about meddling busybodies, even if she hadn’t really experienced it here. Yet. “Any plans on heading towards Konoha?” She huffed and shook her head.

“Don’t really wanna go to any of the big Villages,” she told him simply. _The idea of them is nice,_ she thought grimly, _but I already struggle to feed myself without adding excessive costs, taxes, bills…_ She grimaced, absently leaning forward to use a stick and poke at the fire a little, making it flare back up a small bit from where it was settling. “No. No big Village. Not for a _long_ while, at least.”

“Well, that’s a pity,” the Shinobi stated easily. “If you were heading to Konoha, I would have offered to escort you! I’m heading back pretty early, after all,” he chuckled, leaning back on his hands, body language lax and unthreatening. “Would have been nice to have some company, all things considered! Still, I’ll wish you luck on wherever your journey takes you, kiddo.” Sayuri grimaced at him, giving him a faintly annoyed look that made him grin, boyish and harmless. Instantly, Sayuri looked away, scowling at the fire as her cheeks burned.

 _Stupid, handsome Shinobi_ , she thought darkly, jabbing at the fire a little more harshly than she probably should, but not caring. The Shinobi just grinned a little wider, obviously amused by her reaction, and Sayuri huffed at him, throwing her little stick into the fire and leaning back, grumpily crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, since you’re not heading towards any of the ‘big Villages’, as you said, are you at least heading into Fire Country?” he asked, turning his grin and attention back to the rain. “Maybe I could recommend a few of the better small villages that way.” Sayuri grumbled to herself wordlessly for a moment, before also looking out into the rain.

 _Should_ she head into Fire? If she said yes, she had a feeling that this Shinobi would insist on escorting her, at least a little ways, and, well. Lone, Loyal Shinobi were a protective measure she could only ever _dream_ of having guard her, but she also had the feeling that this man would question and cajole her every step of the way. Still, was it worth the risk?

**_End Chapter_ **

**Reviewer Question!**

_Should Sayuri go to Fire Country and let this Shinobi escort her, or somewhere else?_


End file.
